Con Ed Restores Power to 80%, but Storm Looms

CNBC.com with AP

Monday, 5 Nov 2012 | 8:59 AM ETCNBC.com

SHARES

Source: coned.com

Power has been restored to nearly 80 percent of utility customers in the New York City area who were blacked out by Super Storm Sandy, but a nor'easter looms that could set back efforts to return to normal.

As of late Sunday, Con Edison said approximately 180,000 customers were still without electricity, out of an estimated 950,000 affected. That includes 5,000 in Manhattan, 45,000 in Queens, 22,000 in Brooklyn, 16,000 in Staten Island and 10,000 in the Bronx.

Some 2.2 million homes and businesses in New York lost power in the storm, which blew ashore in New Jersey a week ago.

In New Jersey, about 1 million homes and businesses remained without electricity Sunday, and many of those customers may not have service restored until Wednesday.

But as the region continued its struggle back to normalcy, the National Weather Service warned that a nor'easter with gusts of up to 55 mph was likely to reach the area by Wednesday. That could compound the havoc brought by last week's violent weather.

"Restoration crews love blue sky days," said John Miksad, Con Ed's senior vice president of electric operations. "When the wind gets high and the weather gets ugly ... it just slows things down."